Mushrooms are a fungus, which is one of the five main kingdoms of the living world — not a plant, nor an animal but are still living organisms.
There are more than 14,000 varieties of mushrooms known in the world — some are edible, some will send you on a spiritual awakening, and some are extremely poisonous. The mushrooms we work with have incredible health and healing benefits.
A little history. . .
Using non-toxic mushrooms for medicinal purposes isn’t a new fad, or the latest wellness trend. Mushrooms have been used for their medicinal and health-promoting qualities for thousands of years. There’s historical evidence of Greek physicians like Hippocrates to ancient Chinese alchemists using mushrooms for their healing and anti-inflammatory properties.
If they’ve been used for so long, then why haven’t I heard of them?
It’s only recently that modern science has proven the ancient healers right, that medicinal mushrooms do contain incredibly powerful properties.
What makes our mushrooms so special?
Medicinal mushrooms are a form of adaptogens, which are non-toxic plants. Different types of adaptogens have different health-promoting and/or therapeutic properties.
Adaptogens help our bodies deal with stressors, from physical stressors like injury or inflammation, to chemical stressors like pollution or biological stressors such as pathogens or disease. They can also have a profound effect on our overall health, such as our immunity, energy levels, physical performance, and cognitive function.
A key adaptogenic compound that mushrooms deliver are beta (β)-glucan polysaccharides. These polysaccharides are carbohydrate compounds that have shown to provide a plethora of health benefits. They’re a type of insoluble, fermentable fibre, which has shown to positively affect our gut health, as well as showing potential enhancing effects on our immune system and anti-inflammatory action, and more.
Each variety of mushroom also contain a unique range of other powerful biologically active compounds, like terpenes, sterols, and peptidoglycans, that have shown to provide a range of health benefits, including anti-viral, anti-aging, neuro-protective and anti-cancer action, as well as support with allergy and disease symptoms, blood pressure and cholesterol levels and much more. Mushrooms are pretty magnificent!
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Here at Mother Made, we’ve hand selected a range of mushrooms that are renowned for their ability to combat the most common stressors of our modern lives. Our mushrooms are 100% from the fruiting body (where the good stuff is found), not mycelium grain (the mushrooms’ root system).
Our powders are made from dual extracts. This means we’ve used an extraction method using both water (to extract the β-glucans) and alcohol (to extract the adaptogenic terpenes) to obtain all the biologically active compounds the mushrooms have to offer. (Don’t fret, there’s no alcohol remaining in the powders).
Medicinal Mushroom Benefits
Lion’s Mane
Hericium erinaceus
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Brain power
Are you feeling mental burnout? Do you need a little more brain juice at work or university?
Think of lion’s mane as your brain food.
Lion’s mane contains the adaptogenic compounds β-glucan polysaccharides (great for our digestive & immune systems) as well as several types of terpenoids (of which most are diterpenoids).
Diterpenoids are bioactive compounds that have shown to support our brain and nervous systems, and improve our brain power, our memory, and our mood.
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Key benefits
Supports our brain & nervous systems
Improve cognitive function
Boost digestive health
Cordyceps
Cordyceps Sinensis
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Performance
Calling all athletes (or the rest of us who simply compete in the perils of modern life), cordyceps is the holy grail when it comes to physical performance.
Cordyceps is a bit of an all-rounder, touting a broad range of health benefits, but is commonly touted for its boosting effect on our energy levels, muscle recovery, kidney and liver function and even sexual libido. Cordyceps’ adaptogenic compounds include modified nucleosides, β-glucan polysaccharides, and cyclosporine-like metabolites (which have shown antioxidant action, protective effects on our organs, and more).
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Key benefits
Boost and stabilise energy levels
Increase stamina
Improve lung capacity aid with workout recovery
Chaga
Inonotus obliquus
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Antioxidant Boost
Forget green juices, chaga is the tried and tested (for over 2,000 years) antioxidant booster.
Chaga is a rich source of potent antioxidants which work to neutralise harmful free radicals (also known as ROS or reactive oxygen species).
It’s chaga’s richness of β-glucan polysaccharides that score it the highest on the ORAC scale (which measures the ability to oxidise free radicals), scoring 3x higher than acai berries!
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Key benefits
Antioxidant action
fight inflammation
support immune system
Reishi
Ganoderma lucidum
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Relaxation
Do you feel like your shoulders are up around your ears? Have anxiety or stress become a usual part of your day? Are you having trouble sleeping? We think it’s time for you to meet reishi.
Reishi is known to have a profound calming effect and helps to reduce our stress, supporting a positive mental state.
Reishi is one of the oldest mushrooms known to be used medicinally, having been utilised in China for over 2,000 years. It is shown in Chinese herbalism as a powerful shen tonic, and the “herb of spiritual potency” or the “herb of immortality”.
Reishi’s biologically active compounds include a unique combination of different β-glucan polysaccharides, peptidoglycans (which have shown to have anti-viral activity), and triterpenes.
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Key benefits
Relieve stress and anxiety
Aid quality sleep
Supports immune system
Shiitake
Lentinus edodes
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Optimal health
Shiitake is a mushroom you might have heard of before as it is commonly used in Asian cooking. Not only is it delicious, but it’s also extremely nutritious.
Shiitake is a source of eritadenine that has shown to have cholesterol-lowering action which supports our heart health.
Shiitake also has a few benefits for our skin health too, such as being rich in antioxidants which helps to prevents skin damage and ageing, and kojic acid which plays a role in skin pigmentation.
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Key benefits
Support heart health
Skin health
Support immune system
Turkey’s Tail
Trametes versicolor or Coriolus versicolor
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Digestive support
Turkey’s tail delivers a wide range of beneficial bioactive compounds, from phenols and flavonoids which have antioxidant action, to protein-bound β-glucans polysaccharides - PSK & PSP - which are being heavily studied for their anti-cancer activity.
The β-glucan polysaccharides profile of turkey’s tail has also shown in recent studies to aid our digestive system and gut health due to the prebiotic fibre content.
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Key benefits
Aid digestion
Support immune system
